Operating Engineers & Participating Employees Pre-Apprentice v. Weiss Bros. Construction Co.

Plaintiffs Operating Engineers & Participating Employees PreApprentice, Apprentice and Journeyman Affirmative Action Training Fund (the Trust Fund) and the Operating Engineers Joint Apprenticeship Committee for Northern California (the JAC) appeal from the trial court’s judgment in favor of defendants Weiss Bros. Construction Co., doing business as Weisscal, David Weiss, Alan Weiss, and Fidelity and Surety Company of Maryland. After ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempted the JAC’s breach of contract action against Weisscal, the trial court sustained the demurrer to and dismissed the first amended complaint. We shall follow the recent Ninth Circuit decision in Hydrostorage v. Northern Cal. Boilermakers (9th Cir. 1989) 891 F.2d 719 , and affirm.

Background

In ruling on a judgment of dismissal following the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend, we take as true the complaint’s well-pleaded facts. (See, e.g., Leach v. Drummond Medical Group, Inc. (1983) 144 Cal.App.3d 362, 366 [ 192 Cal.Rptr. 650 ], quoting Porten v. University of San Francisco (1976) 64 Cal.App.3d 825, 827-828 [ 134 Cal.Rptr. 839 ].) According to the first…